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Tuesday, 14 November 2017

Phone Comparisons: LG V30 vs Huawei Mate 10 Pro

Introduction

Do we have a good one for you today – the LG V30 is compared to the Huawei Mate 10 Pro – two devices that target photography and audio buffs. Both handsets have dual cameras and Hi-Res audio and the Mate 10 Pro even sports stereo speakers. It is almost hard to tell them apart from the front – both have a largely bezel-less look with a flat 18:9 display. The LG V30 is available on all major U.S. carriers, while the Mate 10 Pro is only expected to start being sold by AT&T in the near future as Huawei, one of China’s largest manufacturers of smartphones, tries to break into the biggest flagship market on the planet. These two devices have some powerful technology going for them and even a few things in common. We will look at what characteristics they share before we examine each individual device.

The LG V30 and Huawei Mate 10 Pro do share a few design features even though they come from largely different companies. They both have a 6-inch OLED display with an 18:9 ratio and Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. Both devices use a powerful processor, made by different companies, but are on equal footing when it comes to performance. These two devices have dual cameras meant to provide a top-tier imaging experience. They both offer High-Res audio for an excellent listening experience via headphones. Both have a non-removable battery with rapid charging support – Quick Charge 3.0 on the LG V30 and Huawei’s SuperCharge technology on the Mate 10 Pro. They are very close to the same physical dimensions, although the Mate 10 Pro is 20 grams heavier. Both have some sort of dust and water protection – IP68 on the LG V30 and IP67 on the Mate 10 Pro. These two devices have WiFi, Bluetooth (v5.0 on the LG V30 and v4.2 on the Mate 10 Pro), a USB Type-C port, NFC, and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Please take a careful look at the detailed specifications comparison chart below and here you will see just how these two excellent Android devices stack up against each other in terms of raw specs. After that, we will look at each handset in more detail and point out some of its pros and cons. From all of this information, we will try to determine the winner based on a combination of specs and the overall execution of design and functions.

Specifications

LG V30

LG has been putting out some great smartphones over the past couple of years. Even when it made a commercial failure like the LG G5 with its modular design, that move was a learning experience that made the LG G6 that much better. While the LG v20 was a relative success, the LG V30 is a complete makeover boasting a new all-glass look. Gone is the LCD panel as the firm switched over to an OLED display technology. Also gone is the old 16:9 display ratio and enter the new 18:9 image format. The tech giant even upgraded the dual cameras found on the rear of the flagship. It also did eliminate the removable battery, but added wireless charging and an IP68 certification to its new offering. LG included the top Snapdragon 835/Adreno 540 GPU combo into the V30 and retained the Hi-Res audio with four DACs. Unfortunately, stereo speakers aren’t part of this shiny package.

LG has long manufactured OLED displays but up until now, it has never included one in a flagship smartphone, disregarding the highly experimental LG G Flex. The LG V30 sports a 6-inch QHD+ P-OLED display with an 18:9 ratio. It has a resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels and a pixel density of 538 pixels per inch. LG calls its new, near bezel-less display ‘FullVision’ and is quick to point out that the module includes Dolby Vision and HDR10 support. While the LG V20 used a fixed secondary display for notifications, LG switched to a new ‘floating bar’ display that can be moved around the main screen or completely swiped away. LG picked the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with four cores clocked at 1.9GHz and another four cores operating at 2.45GHz, with the SoC being paired with an Adreno 540 that can handle any video, movie, or game you throw at it. The LG V30 packs 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of internal memory coupled with a microSD card slot supporting up to 256GB of additional storage.

The ‘V’ series has always used a dual-camera setup and the LG V30 continues that tradition with improvements. The LG V30 boasts a 16-megapixel sensor for its primary camera and a large f/1.6 aperture. LG included OIS, both PDAF and laser focusing, and a dual-tone LED flash. The secondary camera uses a 13-megapixel sensor with a wide-angle 120-degree field of capture and a smaller aperture of f/1.9. For the secondary camera, LG included a 5-megapixel module – the same one used on the LG V20 – but it now includes support for facial recognition. A 3,300mAh non-removable battery offering both Quick Charge 3.0 and wireless charging is part of the package as well.

The complete redesign of the LG V30 includes an all-glass construction with a metal frame. This change eliminated the removable battery but added wireless charging and an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The LG V30 was still able to maintain its MIL-STD-810G standard, surprising many industry watchers. LG kept the four DACs from the LG V20, as well as an equalizer with left-right balance controls, and maintained its B&O Play certification for great sound output through compatible headphones. Unfortunately, you will not find any stereo speakers on the LG V30. Apart from facial recognition, voice recognition support is also included with the high-end Android device. The new look of the V30 makes it appear modern and somewhat reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S8 without the curved edges. The device measures 151.7 x 75.4 x 7.4mm and weighs in at 158 grams. The V30 comes in your choice of Cloud Silver or Moroccan Blue and ships with Android 7.1.2 Nougat enhanced with the company’s proprietary skin. The LG V30 will cost you approximately $840 outright.

Huawei Mate 10 Pro

The new Huawei Mate 10 Pro is one nice-looking device and we would expect nothing less from Huawei. As of September, Huawei surpassed Apple to rank second to Samsung in world smartphone sales, yet it is still almost completely unknown in the U.S. Huawei has reportedly cut a deal with AT&T to sell the new Mate 10 Pro in the country in a bid to gain a foothold in the world’s largest flagship market. This all-glass beauty with a metal frame should be in AT&T stores this December, according to recent reports. Other than its 1080p display, lack of memory expansion, and no 3.5mm headphone jack, the Mate 10 Pro has a high-end Kirin 970 processor and Mali-G72 MP12 GPU that can easily take on the Snapdragon 835/Adreno 540 combo found in the LG V30. Its Leica-made dual-camera setup ranks only second to the Google Pixel 2 models in the Android ecosystem and its huge 4,000mAh battery will easily last you through the day and then some. Let’s see just how the powerhouse that is the Mate 10 Pro holds up to the LG V30.

Huawei decided to go with the new 18:9 aspect ratio, but only a 1080p resolution on its display in an effort to save battery life, ultimately delivering a device with a 4,000mAh cell that would be more strained with a QHD display. The AMOLED panel of the handset has a 6-inch diagonal with a resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels giving it a density of 402 pixels per inch. It also supports HDR10 for a good viewing experience, but there is no secondary display for notifications. Protection is provided by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5, the usual choice in the premium smartphone segment.

The Mate 10 Pro uses Huawei’s new Kirin 970 octa-core chip with a quad-core clocked at 1.8GHz and a second quad-core configuration working at up to 2.4GHz. It works with the new Mali-G72 GPU and this combination stacks up nicely against the Snapdragon 835 and Adreno 540 used in the LG V30. The Mate 10 Pro packs 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM, offering more for your money when it comes to multitasking or keeping applications open to immediate use. It packs 128GB of internal memory but has no means to expand it. A model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space is also offered by Huawei in some markets but presumably won’t come to the U.S.

Working in tandem with Leica, Huawei’s dual-camera is one of the highest-rated ones ever to be put on a smartphone. The Mate 10 Pro has a 12-megapixel main sensor along with a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor, each mounted behind a lens with an aperture of f/1.6, OIS, 2x optical zoom, PDAF and .aser autofocus, and a dual-tone LED flash. You can get some fantastic black-and-white photos from the Mate 10 Pro, with this smartphone being advertised as the ultimate mobile photography tool. Its front camera is an 8-megapixel unit with an aperture of f/2.0 for selfies and video chatting. A 4,000mAh non-removable battery with fast charging powers the device.

The glass back eliminated the chance of a removable battery but opened the door to the IP67 dust and water resistance certification, though Huawei chose not to include wireless charging. The Mate 10 Pro is packing a very good sound package that comes with stereo speakers, but no 3.5mm headphone jack, though an adapter is provided in the box. It comes with support for the older Bluetooth 4.2 standard but features an infrared (IR) blaster and NFC. The fingerprint sensor is mounted on the back of the Mate 10 Pro. The device measures 154.2 x 74.5 x 7.9mm and weighs in at 178 grams. The Mate 10 Pro comes in your choice of Midnight Blue, Titanium Gray, Mocha Brown, and Pink Gold and ships with Android 8.0 Oreo enhanced with Huawei’s EMUI 8.0. The Mate 10 Pro will cost you approximately $945 outright, although if purchased through AT&T you will be able to finance the device on a plan.

…And The Winner Is…

The Final Word

We are picking the LG V30 as the winner of this comparison. Both phones are outstanding flagship devices, but the higher screen resolution, expandable memory, 3.5mm headphone jack, IP68 certificate, ability to function on all major U.S. carriers, and the lower price all make the LG V30 the better choice between the two for stateside consumers.

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro has many great qualities – it comes with a terrific SoC/GPU combo, 6GB of RAM, monochrome camera, a better secondary camera, larger battery, stereo speakers, IR blaster, and Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box, but its lack of a QHD resolution on a 6-inch display, non-expandable memory, higher price, and the fact that it’s limited to AT&T made it a solid second in this comparison, at least as far as our opinion is concerned.